And Babies Make Eight
by Flower 'n' Prongs
Summary: Lizzie is married with two kids and expecting. But there's not just one baby. With the discovery of multiples, the Gordon family is jumping from four to eight people in approximately 30 weeks. Getting to the delivery is an adventure in itself. Complete.
1. Nothing Weird Yet

A/N: This is my first fic. It's set in the future, when the gang would be either 26 or 27. (Depending on their birthday.) Hope you like it!  
  
Lexi Lalime   
  
Chapter One  
  
"Miranda!" I shrieked, running down the stairs. "It's positive!"  
  
Miranda jumped off my living room couch and gave me a big hug. She'd been my best friend for, well, practically forever. Now she's also my sister-in- law. She'd married my brother, Matt, when we were 21. She'd been 4 months pregnant with her oldest at the time. "Congratulations!" she exclaimed.  
  
I had just discovered that I was pregnant again. I was especially excited because Miranda was pregnant too. She was 17 weeks along. I wanted our kids to be friends like us. I took it as a good sign that we were only due a few months apart.  
  
I'm twenty-six, married, and have two children. I got married when I was twenty. It was to Gordo, who had been my high school sweetheart. We'd been close friends since we were three months old though. Together we'd had two children, both girls. Brigette is the oldest, she's five. Haylie is second, she's only two. Our family is pretty well off, because Gordo's been a successful director of movies since around the time that we'd gotten married.  
  
When I told Miranda it was one-thirty in the afternoon. The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur. I called Pizza Pizza and ordered a large pepperoni and cheese pizza and a small deluxe pizza. This was a family tradition on Friday nights. I'd baked a chocolate cake, which is a family favourite. I'd also taken Haylie to the store and got an "It's A Girl!" balloon and an "It's A Boy!" balloon.  
  
By five-fifteen the pizza had arrived and we were eating dinner. Haylie was holding a fork in one hand and picking up the small, cut up pizza pieces in the other. Brigette was slowly eating her pizza: crust first, then pepperoni, then the rest. Gordo and I were eating our pizza like normal people, occasionally wiping Brigette or Haylie's face and getting more pizza for somebody.  
  
By the time we were ready for dessert it was nearly six. I took the cake out a placed it between Gordo and Brigette, who were sitting beside each other. Gordo looked at the cake, then the balloons, and smiled.  
  
"What?" Brigette asked. Suddenly she seemed to remember. "Are you having a baby mommy?"  
  
I nodded and she said, "I hope that it's a girl."  
  
"It could be a boy though," Gordo said. I think that he was sort of, in the back of his mind, hoping for a little boy. If it was another girl, then he would be stuck living with four girls. He probably wanted a boy, who would rather play sports with him than go to the mall. Catching what that must have sounded like he said, "But it may be a girl."  
  
That's what Brigette insisted on for the rest of the night. Gordo and I called our parents and they were, of course, excited. More than they were with Brigette at least. I'd only been twenty-one when she was born. We'd waited until I was twenty-four to have Haylie.  
  
That night before going to sleep Gordo and I talked about names. "Do you think that it's a little early to worry about names?" I'd asked him.  
  
He shrugged. "Maybe. But you don't know how long it's going to take us to agree on a name."  
  
"Yeah. We can keep the boys' name though," I answered, referring to the boys' name that we had had for Brigette and Haylie. "So, Jason for a boy. Do you have any ideas for a girl?"  
  
"Um, let me sleep on that," he answered.  
  
"Well, okay. Good night." I said.  
  
"Good night," Gordo said.  
  
That night I fell asleep, happy. In nine months, Gordo and I would have another kid. Haylie would be a big sister and Brigette would be a big sister again. I couldn't wait. 


	2. First Ultra Sound

A/N: Yeah, I know the chapters are short but they will get longer! Please R&R! Thanks.  
  
~*~ Lexi Lalime ~*~  
  
Chapter Two  
  
By the time I was two-and-a-half months pregnant, well, let's just say things weren't going the greatest.  
  
With both Brigette and Haylie I had had wonderful pregnancies. Both girls came on time, no troubles on the way. Brigette was born at 39 weeks, 5 days. Haylie came at 40 weeks... to the day. Not early, not late, just on time. It was wonderful: no complications, morning sickness, nothing! This time I wasn't so lucky.  
  
On the day that I reached 10 weeks I was going to go for my first ultra sound. That morning I had gotten dressed in a white tank top and a pale pink tracksuit. I like that outfit because it was comfy and also had an elastic waistband. It hid my stomach, which was good because I didn't like that I was showing, but not that much. Miranda, who lived close by, offered to take Brigette to school (she was in the same class as her oldest, Kyle) and then keep Haylie for as long as we needed her too. (She had a one-year-old herself, named Carrie.)  
  
By the time I was ready that morning, I didn't feel so good. I threw-up at five, and couldn't get back to sleep. I had helped Gordo with the girls that morning. As soon as they were getting ready to go I finished my breakfast. Five minutes later, just as Gordo was waiting at the door, I'd thrown up in the toilet.  
  
So, even though Gordo was waiting, I went upstairs. I washed my face and given myself Gravol. When I was coming downstairs Gordo sighed. "Lizzie, you know that Gravol isn't going to stop morning sickness."  
  
"I don't have morning sickness," I grumbled. "I have all-day sickness. And I don't really care whether it stops it or not. It's worth a shot. Anything's better than throwing up all day."  
  
On the way to the doctor I said to Gordo, "Why do I feel so, well, different than I did with Brigette and Haylie. I feel so... How should I say this? I guess you can say big. I'm just so much bigger that I was with them. I also feel pretty terrible."  
  
Gordo's blue eyes suddenly widened. "Lizzie," he said slowly and carefully, as if he had to say everything right.  
  
"Yeah. I'm listening to you," I replied.  
  
"You don' think that you could be, you know," he paused; stopping at a light that had just went from yellow to red. Looking at me he finished, "pregnant with twins?"  
  
I gasped. "Me? Have twins?" I smiled. "Gordo! Now you're probably just gonna get my hopes up too high."  
  
He smiled, and then started driving again. We spent the rest of the half- hour drive in silence, except for the radio.  
  
Gordo and I sat in the waiting room for about ten minutes before somebody called out my name. "Elizabeth Gordon?"  
  
I walked into a room and waited. A few moments later a doctor came in. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. I knew her, because she'd been my doctor through out my other pregnancies.  
  
She smiled at me. Hello, Lizzie. Hello Gordo," she looked at me then smiled. "Another little one on the way?"  
  
"Yep," Gordo said proudly. "Um, Dr. Mackenzie?"  
  
"Yes Gordo?" she sat down in a chair, facing Gordo and me.  
  
"Well, I was wondering if Lizzie could be pregnant with twins. It's just because she feels so different with this pregnancy."  
  
I nodded, adding, "I know that it's possible that anybody could have twins. But this time around I don't feel the same. I feel bigger and I have had lots of morning sickness."  
  
Dr. Mackenzie smiled. "We'll find that out today, won't we? Can you come over here please?"  
  
A few minutes later I was lying down, and Dr. Mackenzie was getting me ready for my ultra sound. "Okay Liz, remember that this is going to be cold," she reminded me.  
  
Shortly after she was taking my ultra sound. Suddenly her mouth dropped open. She said four words, very softly. With wide eyes she turned to me, "Oh my God Lizzie."  
  
Gordo walked over to see what made Dr. Mackenzie so amazed. He looked shocked and I began to cry.  
  
"What's wrong with my baby?" I demanded.  
  
"Nothing," Dr. Mackenzie said. "And from now on you can start saying 'babies'. You're not having one."  
  
"Did you hear that Gordo?" I exclaimed happily. "We're having twins! I've always wanted twins but I'd never thought that I'd actually have them."  
  
Dr. Mackenzie shook her head. "Lizzie, you're not having twins. You're having, well, you're having..." 


	3. A Chat With Miranda

A/N: This starts with Lizzie walking into her house. The ultra sound is over. You don't know what her doctor, Dr. Mackenzie, told her until she calls Miranda and tells her the news. ~*~ Lexi Lalime ~*~  
  
Chapter Three  
  
I walked into the house, still amazed. As I put my shoes and jacket into the closet I told Gordo, "I'm going to call Miranda. She needs to know and I need to talk to somebody."  
  
Gordo nodded. I think that he understood what I was saying.  
  
So I walked upstairs into my bedroom and sat on the bed. I picked up the phone, and then put it down. I ran to the bathroom. Sure enough, I had another bout of morning sickness. I walked back and picked up the phone. I dialed Miranda and Matt's number and waited.  
  
On the second ring I heard Miranda's voice say, "Hello."  
  
"Miranda?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah. Lizzie is something wrong. Wait, you just went to your first ultra sound didn't you? Is something wrong with your baby?" She sounded really concerned. "Is everything alright?"  
  
I took a deep breath. "Yep, everything's fine. It's just that..." I stopped.  
  
"It's just that what?" Miranda asked.  
  
"I'm having *babies*," There. I'd said it. Now I just needed to hear a reaction. As long as she said something.  
  
"Oh my God Lizzie! You're having twins?!" Miranda squealed.  
  
"Actually, no. I'm..." I started to say. I was trying to think of how to put it when Miranda interrupted again.  
  
"Triplets?! You're so lucky, Liz." Miranda said, half in awe.  
  
"Miranda listen!" I exclaimed. "No. Quadruplets. Gordo and I just found out and I don't know what to do. I want to keep them all but I'm kinda worried. You know cuz of my health and supporting them and stuff. I just wanted to tell you and hear what you thought." I said that all in one breath. It felt good to tell somebody, to hear what they had to say.  
  
"Wow," Miranda whispered. "I'm going to be the aunt of Quads." She started talking normally again and said, "Do you know the genders of them yet. Well, that's a stupid question. You're only 10 weeks along aren't you?"  
  
"Yeah," was all I got to say before Miranda started talking again.  
  
"Well, Lizzie, I wasn't planning on telling anybody this yet but I know what I'm going to have," she said. I remembered her other pregnancies. With Kyle she didn't know herself. The second time, with Carrie, she knew and so did Matt but they hadn't been told anybody.  
  
Miranda stopped talking and I realized that I probably should have been saying something. Talk about pregnancy slowness. "What?" I asked. I thought to myself, "Brilliant. She's about to tell you something she doesn't normally tell people and all you can say is 'What?' Nice."  
  
Miranda didn't seem to mind though. "It's a boy." She sounded excited. "I'm glad Kyle's going to have somebody to play with. Carrie plays with Haylie a lot but Kyle doesn't have anybody. I know that the baby's going to be a little young but it's better than the girls. I know he likes them but he always complains about having to play with dolls and Barbies if he's going to play with the other kids."  
  
I laughed. Our conversation slowly started to leave the topic of our kids. Miranda brought up a topic that interested me though about a half-hour later. "Oh, I almost forgot. Did you hear about the high school reunion?"  
  
"No," I said slowly. "What is it?"  
  
"Oh. It's just a reunion for anybody who was in our grade in 2004. It's a 10-year reunion. It's on June 1st. You'll probably get your letter today or tomorrow. I just got mine yesterday."  
  
"That's in just under two months," I said, half to myself.  
  
"Yeah, so?" Miranda asked.  
  
"Miranda, I'll be about 19 weeks pregnant! Do you know how big I'm going to be?"  
  
"Oh well. Everybody's taking all of their kids," Miranda paused, she must have been thinking about something. "But it said that they were going to have enough time for everybody to have 5 minutes to say what's been going on in their life. Well not everybody," she continued, "just roughly 5 minutes for each couple."  
  
"Okay, I'll tell Gordo. Good luck at your next ultra sound Randa," I said. I was referring to her ultra sound that she had told me about. It was going to be the next day.  
  
"Bye Lizzie. Congratulations on the quadruplets!" Miranda said.  
  
"Thanks. Bye."  
  
"Bye." 


	4. News About the Reunion

A/N: Please R&R! I do understand that Lizzie have quadruplets is pretty unlikely. I know that. As much as I know that I'm still writing about it because I like the idea of it and nobody else has done it. If you don't like it... well that's not my problem cuz I'm gonna keep writing it!  
  
~*~ Lexi Lalime ~*~  
  
Chapter Four  
  
"Gordo!" I yelled downstairs, where Gordo had last been. Even though I waited about five seconds there was no response. I walked down the hall and down the staircase that lead to the main floor. "Gordo!" I called out again. Just as I'd closed my mouth Gordo walked in the front door. He was carrying a stack of letters, flyers, and bills.  
  
"Lizzie, there's a letter from Hillridge High." Gordo said. He looked slightly confused. After all, we hadn't been there for eight years.  
  
"Oh, we got it. Miranda told me about it, she got hers yesterday. It's about a ten-year reunion. Everybody who was there when we were sixteen got invited." I explained. "Can I see it?"  
  
Gordo handed me the letter. I walked into the living room and sat on the couch. I ripped open the letter and began to read. It started:  
  
David and Elizabeth Gordon Attention: Reunion  
  
Dear David and Elizabeth Gordon,  
  
I would like to inform you that there is going to be a Hillridge High ten- year reunion on June 1st 2014. If you were a student that year, in Grade Nine through to Grade Twelve, you are welcome to join us. You may take along any children that you have. It will be located...  
  
From there the two page letter went on to explain about the location, time, and other important information. Miranda had explained most of it to her but there were a few details that she left out. Most weren't very important, but there were still a few that Lizzie would have liked to have known.  
  
"So, when is it?" Gordo asked suddenly. I hadn't heard him come in, so I jumped.  
  
"What? The reunion?" I asked.  
  
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, what else?"  
  
I blushed. "Sorry. And the reunion is on June 1st. We can take Brigette and Haylie if we want. That's what the letter said. And I'm pretty positive that Miranda and Matt are going to take Kyle and Carrie with them."  
  
"Do you want to take them? Because we can always just leave them with a set of grandparents or get a baby sitter you know," Gordo asked. He laughed at the look on my face when he said that. "I'll take that as you want them to come with us. You just want to show them off don't you?"  
  
I nodded. "As long as they don't get in trouble," he said. He suddenly looked concerned. "Liz, you don't have to go if you don't want too. You'd almost be at 20 weeks, half way to full term. You may just want to stay at home and rest. Especially if you still are throwing up all day. You wouldn't have any fun at the reunion if you were tired and spent a lot of time in the bathroom."  
  
"No Gordo," I said firmly. "This is my chance to see all of my old classmates too. I want to see what everybody else's job is. And who they married. Plus their kids."  
  
"I wonder who Tudgeman married?" Gordo asked.  
  
I giggled. "Guess what Kate told me?" I asked Gordo. Kate and I had made up when we were sixteen. She and I were now close friends. Not as close as Gordo, Miranda, and I are.  
  
"What? Does she know who he married?" Gordo asked.  
  
I nodded. "Yep. He married..." I paused, "Claire!"  
  
Gordo and I started laughing. We laughed so hard that our stomachs hurt. I added, "I'm serious. The cheerleader and the nerd. Kate said they had one kid. It's a boy named Brandon, he's two."  
  
With that Gordo started laughing again. We stopped suddenly when I stood up and ran to the bathroom. When I came back I said to Gordo, "When do you think that we should tell family about the quads. I told Miranda not to tell anybody."  
  
"Maybe you should invite them over for dinner tomorrow," Gordo suggested.  
  
"Okay. I'll go call them. I'll plan a special dinner then we can tell them together that we're expecting quads," I said. "Do you think we should say quadruplets, or just twins or triplets?"  
  
"Lizzie, we should say quads. We have to be honest," Gordo said.  
  
"Well... sure. We'll tell them quads. I'll go invite them now," I stood up and walked toward the kitchen to go use the phone. I was about to give my parents one of the biggest surprises of their lives. 


	5. The Reactions

A/N: I got this written as fast as I could! This takes place the next day, just before the families arrive. Sorry it took a while to get this up, I'm in Grade Seven and had my Hepatitis B shot yesterday. My arm hurt too much to type.  
  
Chapter Five  
  
"Brigette!" I yelled. "Come upstairs now, we have to get you dressed before your grandparents come over!"  
  
I heard footsteps pounding up the basement stairs then continuing up from the main floor to the second floor. "Kay Mommy, I'm ready," she told me, pulling me by the hand into her room.  
  
I took out the outfit that I'd wanted her to wear. It was simple: a jean skirt; a pink, yellow, and white striped shirt; white tights, and fancy black shoes. It was an outfit that she loved, but I didn't allow her to use most of the time.  
  
When she got dressed, she brushed her hair and put in a fancy pink plastic headband. She then went to get Haylie so I could get her dressed in her purple jumper.  
  
By the time they were dressed, I barely had time to get dressed myself in a jean skirt and blouse. I was just finishing putting on my mascara and lip- gloss when the doorbell rang.  
  
I went downstairs and welcomed my in laws. A few minutes later my parents came. Just after they took their coats and shoes off Miranda and her family came. Because it was just about dinnertime we went to the dinning room to eat.  
  
I had spent most of the afternoon getting ready. It was hard to find something that twelve people would agree on. Eventually I decided to go for spaghetti. I knew that everybody liked it. Maybe one of the younger kids didn't but they could just have it with butter. I also had several loaves of garlic bread. There were also two garden salads.  
  
I thought that it was good to see all of my family together. Sure there were two high chairs and two kids in booster seats, it was sort of tight fitting in our dinning room table. It was supposed to fit fourteen people but the two highchairs and all of the food didn't leave all that much room for twelve people.  
  
It took about ten minutes, but everybody was finally ready to eat. We had been eating for about fifteen minutes. Most of the people had stopped saying things like "Please pass the salt," and "Please pass the salad dressing". There was still the occasionally need for people to pass something but there was normally only several normal but nosy conversations going on between all of us.  
  
We had been eating for about fifteen minutes when Gordo and I stood up. "Attention! Attention please!" Gordo called out. Everybody stopped talking and looked at the two of us. Gordo looked at me, it was like a silent cue for me to start talking.  
  
"Well, as you know I had my first ultra sound yesterday and..." I started.  
  
"Lizzie, there's nothing wrong is there?!" my mother, Jo McGuire, asked in alarm.  
  
"Well, technically not," I started again, this time more slowly. "But I, actually Gordo and I, did find out some news."  
  
"Big news," Gordo cut in.  
  
"Yes, big news," I started again for the third time. "It's that... I'm having... well, I'm having quadruplets!"  
  
Silence. Absolute utter silence. Miranda was the person to break the silence. "Congratulations again!" she said. The next person to speak was Brigette.  
  
"Mommy, what's a 'qua-toop-lets'?" she asked, confused. Being only five years old, there was no way for her to know much about multiple births higher than twins.  
  
"Quadruplets are four babies born at once. So, in less than half a year you'll be a big sister to four more kids."  
  
She smiled. Suddenly everybody started talking and asking questions. "Are you going to have an abortion?", "Oh my God Lizzie, quads!", "How far do you think you're going to get?", "Will you find out how many boys and how many girls?", "How many boys and girls do you think there are?", and "Do you think some will be identical?".  
  
I laughed. "Okay. For your information, we are not going to have an abortion. I will figure out how many boys and how many girls there are. I think that are more girls than boys. I don't know how far along I'm going to get. I don't know if some are identical or not. I do know, however, that I'm really excited."  
  
After that everybody just talked and enjoyed the rest of the evening. If they only knew what the next few months would be like. Not necessarily bad, but definitely something that almost definitely wasn't going to happen to any of them again. 


	6. Back to Dr Mackenzie

A/N: This happens three weeks later. Lizzie is now 13 weeks into her pregnancy (40 weeks). ~*~ Lexi Lalime ~*~  
  
Chapter Six  
  
I stood inside my walk in closet and sighed. I was already about three months pregnant. I was starting to show too, and not just a little. That surprised me and I was sorta angry. I was only about the end of the first trimester. "I'm going to get really fat by the reunion... and I'll still have a lot of time to go! I know that I'm not expected to carry to term, but even by the time I deliver I'll be enormous. This sucks!" I thought to myself.  
  
After several minutes I finally picked out an outfit. It was a tracksuit, light blue. I was starting to live in tracksuits. They were comfy so I could actually lie down when somebody didn't have Haylie and she was taking her naps. That is, when I wasn't in front of the toilet, or in the bathroom.  
  
I went downstairs for breakfast. I was starting to be able to keep food down. I had a piece of toast and apple juice. That meal almost never came up. I really wanted to be able to keep my meal down. Gordo was taking me to my next ultra sound that day.  
  
It was a Friday, but we were planning to drop off Brigette and Haylie at my parents' house. Brigette was only in J.K. (her birthday was in late January) so we thought it would be okay for her to miss a day.  
  
"Hi Mommy!" Brigette said when I came in, legs dangling from the chair that was much too big. She was eating what was probably her favourite breakfast. It wasn't even anything special. Just apple juice and Cheerios with cut up strawberries and bananas in them.  
  
"Mommy, O's," Haylie said. She held up some Fruit Loops as well as Cheerios, Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, and Honey Nut Cheerios. To her, they were all O's.  
  
"Hi girls. We're going to go to Nana and Poppa's house today," I welcomed them. They called my parents Nana and Poppa, and Gordo's Granny and Grandpa.  
  
"Okay," Brigette said. She took a big sip of her apple juice. She then looked thoughtful then said, "Mommy, when are the babies coming?" Brigette was very excited to be a big sister again. We had told her that she couldn't go around telling everybody that her mother was going to have quadruplets though.  
  
Gordo, who was reading the newspaper and having his juice, looked at her and laughed. "Not for a while Brigette."  
  
About half an hour later, we got ready to go to my parents. Gordo quickly dropped them off once they got there. He jumped back into the car, and drove quickly. We were going to be cutting it close.  
  
Sure enough, when we got there we had only been in the waiting room for a few minutes when we got called in to see Dr. Mackenzie.  
  
She smiled and welcomed us into her office. "Has your morning sickness been letting up much?" she asked me.  
  
I nodded. "I don't get sick as much as I used to; only a couple times a day now. It just seems like a lot more than it actually is. I seem to be a lot bigger than I was last time and it bugs me, even though I know that I should be with four babies."  
  
She smiled and I knew that she understood. She was the mother to four, two boys then boy-girl twins. She had explained a few of her first-hand experiences as a mother of multiples on the first ultra sound.  
  
"Lets get your babies checked out," she told me warmly after a short discussion. A few minutes later I was looking at my four babies.  
  
Dr. Mackenzie started talking then. "This is Baby A, this is Baby B, this one is Baby C, and the last is obviously Baby D," she pointed to each baby on the screen as she said its letter.  
  
"Hmm. Baby A is vertex. So is Baby C. Baby B is breech. Baby D is transverse. (A/N: Vertex is head down/head first which can be born naturally, breech is feet first, and transverse is sideways. I thought you might want to know that!) Well, if any are identical you can't tell..."  
  
She continued to talk about the babies for a while, and then started talking about things in the future. "We may be able to tell the sexes of the babies by the ultrasound after next. We should schedule a C-section for you sometime in the future. It would be safer for you and the babies. You couldn't naturally give birth to Baby B and Baby D if they both stay in the position that they're in now anyway. You will almost certainly be put on bed rest later."  
  
After she said that her advice for us was, "Do as much as you can early. Buy big things that are unisex first, like dressers and cribs. You may be able to buy pink and/or blue things in about a month, when you'll know if you're having more boys or girls, or two of each. That's about it. We'll see you in two weeks Lizzie. Take care of yourself."  
  
"Thank you," I said putting on my jacket and picking up my purse. Gordo and I walked out to the car. He opened my door and I climbed in. I was excited to go home. I wanted to look for things like cribs and high chairs in the catalogue. I always wanted to do these things early, while Gordo preferred to wait a little bit longer.  
  
"Gordo we should start thinking about names for our babies," I said. That was one of the things that I had loved to do with Brigette and Haylie. I loved so many names that Gordo had a wide choice of names that I wanted to choose from. "Gordo?" I asked him suddenly. I had just thought of something.  
  
"What is it Liz? Is anything wrong?" he asked, concerned.  
  
"Not really. I was just wondering, how do we decide what baby gets what name. Sure if we only have one boy or one girl that one will be obvious but what about the other ones?"  
  
"I don't know Lizzie. We can come up with that later. If we just go by looks or personality that might work."  
  
"Okay," I replied. We spent the rest of the ride home in silence, except for the radio. I'm sure that Gordo was listening to it but the only things that I could think about were my babies.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ A/N: Okay I need to know what you think. What combination of genders should Lizzie have? All girls All boys 3girls/1boy 3boys/1girl 2girls/2boys Thanks guys. ~*~ Lexi Lalime ~*~ 


	7. Names and an Invitation

A/N: This is only two days later, Sunday. Not much has happened since the last chapter. (Duh.) ~*~ Lexi Lalime ~*~  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
"What names do you like?" I asked Gordo. It was the Sunday after my second ultrasound. I was happy because I hadn't thrown up since early (about three a.m.) Saturday morning. I had also found some of my old maternity clothes. I was wearing my favourite jeans and black T-shirt for when I was pregnant. I had written down all of our favourite names for boys and girls. I was planning on showing it to him and seeing what he thought of the names that I had written. I hoped that he liked them, because I often didn't really like his.  
  
I yelled to Gordo, "Can you come to the living room? I have something that I want to show you. I have to know your opinion on it!" I made it sound urgent, because I knew that he would come right away.  
  
"What is it honey?" he asked.  
  
"This," I said. "They are lists of some of my favourite names. I wanted to know if you thought. That way we could use the ones that you like for the babies."  
  
"Okay," he said. "Let me see that list."  
  
Boys  
  
Patrick--- Noble. Jason--- Healer. Daniel--- God is my judge. Wade--- From the river crossing. Jake--- Held by the heel. Michael--- Who is like God.  
  
Girls  
  
Jaden--- Jehovah has heard. Liliana--- Lily. Taylor--- Tailor. Rosemary--- Dew of the sea. Sarah--- Princess. Logan--- From the little hollow.  
  
"What do you think?" I asked him. "You don't have to like them, I can't force you into liking the names just because they are my favourites, but what do you think? I know that you'll like some more that others but what ones do you like?" I knew I was rambling there so I finally shut up. I just had really wanted to know what he thought of the names.  
  
Suddenly I thought of a better idea. "I'll say the names one by one and we'll say what we think about them okay?" He nodded so I said the first name. "Patrick."  
  
"I like that one. We should keep it." Gordo said.  
  
"That was my favourite for boys," I agreed. "So..." I took a look down at the list, "Jason?"  
  
After five minutes we had gone through the boys names. We were trying to agree what four to keep. We were having a bit of a difficult time agreeing on the ones we should use. We had easily agreed to keep Patrick and Michael. Gordo and I agreed that we could call them Paddy and Mikey when they were little then switch to Pat and Mike when they got older.  
  
"Gordo we have to keep Wade!" I said. "It's so cute!"  
  
"Fine, we'll add Wade," Gordo said. "But I don't see why you don't want Jake or Daniel. After all, you're the one that wrote them!"  
  
"I know, but they're so common. Don't you like Jason?" I was fighting for my favourite names.  
  
"Yeah. I guess we could keep it." Gordo said.  
  
"Thanks Gordo. Don't worry, we wouldn't need to use it unless I have four boys." I assured him. "Now, the girls names. Jaden?"  
  
For the girls we had a easier time agreeing. He easily picked out Liliana, Sarah, Rosemary, and Taylor. He didn't like the other names as much. He said that you could easily mistake a kid with those names to be the opposite sex if you hadn't seen them.  
  
"I know that you like Jaden and Logan, but they're more unisex names. I know Taylor is too but you're more likely to mistake a Jaden or a Logan for a boy than a Taylor." As soon as he said that the decision was easy to make.  
  
"So Patrick, Jason, Wade, and Michael for boys and Liliana, Taylor, Rosemary, and Sarah for girls?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah." Gordo agreed.  
  
"Just think that in a few weeks we'll actually know what names we'll need... and we can start shopping!" I said excitedly.  
  
He smiled and we stood up. He went to the basement and I went to our bedroom. I had to read a book for women who are expecting multiples.  
  
I had just started reading when the phone rang. "Hello?" I said after I had picked it up.  
  
"Hey Lizzie, it's me, Kate. I was wondering if you could come over to my house next Saturday, Miranda's coming over too. It'll be just so we can talk and catch up with what's going on in our lives. I haven't seen you for two months, Miranda too. So will you come?"  
  
"Sure. And Kate?"  
  
"Yeah Lizzie?"  
  
"I'm pregnant. And I have some big news to tell you okay?"  
  
"Okay. Come over around 10:30."  
  
"Bye Kate."  
  
"Bye Lizzie."  
  
I hung up the phone and wondered how Kate would react. After all, when she'd last seen me I didn't look pregnant. Now I looked a few weeks ahead of where I was.  
  
Oh well. She'd be surprised. And I'd have a girls' night with two of my best friends, just like old times. No kids, no husbands. I smiled.  
  
And fell asleep.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
A/N: I know it's not that good but please R&R anyway. It will get more exciting in a couple chapters. PLEASE give your opinion on the babies' sexes. I need them in about two chapters! Thank-you! ~*~ Lexi Lalime ~*~ 


	8. Kate's and the Preinatologist

A/N: This is chapter eight. I hope you like it. Oh, I'm sending some big thank-yous out to anybody who gave their opinion. And two really big ones to lvfgd and shooting-starrz-4 for all of your help and information! (Please, if you have any, I'd still appreciate it a lot!) Shooting- starrz-4 I still may e-mail you! (Sorry.) I know this took awhile to get up; I'll try to be faster next time, okay? I'M REALLY SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG!!! I'LL TRY TO UPDATE FASTER! (I may have more time now that it's summer vacation.) Lexi   
  
**Chapter Eight**  
  
"Hi Lizzie, come on in," Kate Saunders-Craft welcomed me on Saturday morning. It was ten thirty-five, and I was a few minutes late. The girls hadn't wanted to get dropped off at baby-sitters. They were used to going to their grandparents or at their uncles but they were both busy that day. "Miranda's already here. Just take off your shoes and come into the family room." A few minutes later I was sitting in Kate's family room with Kate and Miranda.  
  
Kate's family room was pretty big. The walls were painted a robin's egg blue and the floor was hard wood. Most of the furniture was white-and- blue. The curtains were a deep forest green and they were drawn back from the windows that were practically ceiling-to-floor. There was also a big television and a stereo along the wall to the left of the windows.  
  
"Lizzie, didn't I just see you a couple months ago?" Kate asked, confused, a few moments after I'd sat down. "How far along are you?" She looked down at my rapidly expanding stomach.  
  
"About 13 and a half weeks," I said.  
  
Kate looked shocked, "Are you having twins? You look pretty big."  
  
I shook my head. "No. Quadruplets."  
  
"Oh, wow. Congratulations!" she said.  
  
"Thanks, but it's not as fun to be pregnant this time as it was with Brigette and Haylie," I told her. "I had to have a corkage earlier this week. I got a call from Dr. Mackenzie too and she's going to switch me to a preinatologist from a regular OB. I meet her on Monday. Her, uh, the preinatologist that is, is named is Kellie Morrison."  
  
Miranda spoke up and asked, "Are you going to be able to go to the reunion? You'll be a lot further along then won't you?"  
  
I shrugged, "Maybe. It depends. Oh, and I'm going to find out what the babies' sexes are soon."  
  
"What do you think they are?" asked Kate, shifting her position on in her armchair. "Do you think that there's going to be more girls? You know, because you've already had two daughters? Well, that doesn't really make a difference does it? I mean, I had two sons then two daughters." Kate had had her first child when she was nineteen. She had her second when she was twenty-one, her third when she was twenty-two, and then her daughter last year.  
  
"No idea," I said. "Um, I think that there's at least one boy and one girl."  
  
"I hope that there's a boy, just for Gordo's sake. Imagine him having to live with a wife and six daughters!" Miranda laughed.  
  
The three of us talked for several hours. By the time I left that night, I was glad that I'd gone to see Kate and Miranda. They helped keep my mind off of the fact that I was having quads. That may or may not have been a good thing. I mean, it was good that I wasn't worrying all of the time... but I did like to daydream about the babies!  
  
"Gordo! Please get down here now! I do not want to be late for my first appointment!" I yelled to Gordo from the front door. I was anxious to get to my preinatologist appointment. We were supposed to be there in an hour and we still hadn't even left the house.  
  
I wasn't in the best of moods that morning because it was only the day that I reached 14 weeks and I looked a lot further along. (A/N: I really have no idea AT ALL how somebody 14 weeks pregnant with quadruplets would look. So I decided to not give a week, and just a general time.) I had discovered that my jacket no longer fit, and I was very annoyed. That jacket had fit me a lot longer with Brigette and Haylie. All in all, I was not in the best of moods.  
  
"Coming!" Gordo called from upstairs. A couple of moments later he came running down the stairs. He put on his shoes and grabbed his jacket. "Come on dear, let's go."  
  
After a quicker-than-usual car ride to the other end of town (sigh) we got out of the car in the parking lot of the preinatologist's. Gordo and I hurried into the waiting room and sat down. I picked up a magazine and turned to an article about multiple births. After a couple of minutes I discovered that I couldn't concentrate so I put the magazine down.  
  
A brunette woman who was sitting a few seats to my right smiled. She looked like she was about twenty-nine. "Is this your first appointment?" she asked. "Oh, by the way, my name is Tammie Anderson."  
  
"I'm Lizzie Gordon. Yes this is my first appointment. Are you here to see Dr. Morrison too?" I replied.  
  
"I could tell. I was nervous the first time I came here too. I already have a son, Alex, and I'd only gone to an OB before. I'm going to see the other preinatologist who works here. Her name is Monica Peterson," Tammie replied warmly. "Are you having twins? That's why I'm here. I'm thirty- one weeks along. The babies are identical girls."  
  
"Congratulations. No, I'm not having twins. I'm... um... having quads." I said.  
  
"Oh, you lucky girl!" Tammie exclaimed. Her name was called then ("Tamera Anderson," called a slightly bored sounding voice). "Good luck!" she congratulated me as she stood up.  
  
A few minutes later the same woman called "Elizabeth Gordon." I stood up and so did Gordo.  
  
"Hello, you must be Elizabeth and David?" said a woman as soon as Gordo and I walked into the room. Gordo closed the door and we sat down. The woman was petite with light brown hair.  
  
"Please, call me Lizzie. And he likes to be called Gordo," I told her.  
  
"Okay Lizzie," she said. "You've obviously been transferred from and OB to a preinatologist. Now, a preinatologist is just like an OB but for high- risk pregnancies. I'm assuming that you'll be placed on bed rest by your..." She continued to talk to us about this for a few minutes, and then said that she was going to start the fetal ultrasound.  
  
A couple of minutes later, I was looking at the now familiar sight of four babies. "This is Baby A, this is Baby B, this is Baby C, and this is Baby D, okay sweetie?" she told me, pointing to each baby in turn. "Hmm," mused Dr. Morrison. "Lizzie, have you been told about any identicals for the quads?"  
  
I thought for a moment. I then remembered what Dr. Mackenzie had said about probably not having any identicals. "Um, my OB had told me that there weren't any," I said.  
  
"Well dear, I think that you might have identicals in here. You see Babies B and C? It looks like they're Mo/Di (A/N: I think that that's the term I want to use lol) All of the babies look pretty healthy. They're not cramped yet, because there's still a lot of room..."  
  
A little while later, we were driving back home. "Gordo?" I asked. "Do you think that there is going to be more boys or girls? I know that we probably won't be able to find out for a few weeks but I really do want to know. I just hope that they're not all boys!"  
  
Gordo laughed. "You hope that they're not all boys!? What about me hoping that they're not all girls! It wouldn't be as bad for you, you'd still have two daughters, even though there'd be four sons. I'd be stuck with six daughters and no sons!."  
  
"I hope that there are six girls now. Imagine having to play dress-up and Barbies all the time. Oh, and taking them all shopping when they're fifteen. And raising them when they were fourteen, plus Brigette and Haylie!" Gordo made a face and I giggled. "Yep, I knew you'd like it. So, I think that it's safe to say that you want four girls?"  
  
"Okay Lizzie, let's make a bet," Gordo said. "I bet that there's more boys and you bet that there's more girls. We'll think of the things we have to do later for the person that loses. You make up mine and I'll make up yours, okay?"  
  
"Deal!" I exclaimed. Gordo stopped at a red light and we shook hands.  
  
The bet was on!  
  
A/N: Yeah, yeah, I know, pretty bad. But hey at least I updated lol. Sorry for the wait. Thanks for your responses everybody. I still wouldn't mind your opinion on the babies' sexes you know! Any ideas can be sent to me by e-mail my address is ELALIME40YAHOO.COM incase you didn't know. Hmm, any other facts can be sent there too.  
  
Lvfgd : Thank you so much for your facts. I don't care that you're not a doctor, anything was good at that point for me.  
  
Shooting-starrz-4 : That was very helpful! I don't care that you're not a doctor either, you helped me so much. Thanks for saying that I must be smart. (I guess I am, my average was 85% in 3rd term.) I had no idea what to do with my life, but a preinatologist does sound like a cool job!  
  
Thanks to everybody who complimented me too! Y'all rock!  
  
Lexi 


	9. What A Night

**A/N:** Well, even shocking myself, I decided to just come and write another chapter after all this time. Shocking, isn't it? Well I'm home with a concussion (yuck) and have nothing better to do than this so… let's try this again!

**Chapter Nine**

"Gordo. Wake up hun," I said, shaking him slightly.

He looked over his shoulder at the alarm clock. It read 4:30 AM. His eyes got wider and he sighed, shaking his mess of curls and then peering at it again. It now read 4:31 AM. Well, that gave the sigh of the century. Pulling the comforter over his head he called out, "Whadda you want _now_? It's 4:30_ in the morning_!"

My mouth dropped open. Sorry, ungrateful little bastard. It wasn't him who was up all night with four babies moving was it. Oooooh no. That would be me, wouldn't it? All I do is ask him to get up a couple of hours earlier to get me something but does he even want to do something as simple as that. No, of course not.

"Oh, sorry that I'm asking for so much," I whispered to him through clenched teeth. "I guess I'll just wait until morning so you can go get it. After all, you need your beauty sleep don't you?" With that I attempted to roll over, which only resulted it two kicks at the same time: one around my belly button and one up by my ribs.

Gordo sighed again, almost beating out the sigh of the century from a few minutes ago. "Sorry baby, it's just that it's so early in the morning and I haven't had a good sleep in a few days."

I rolled back over to face him, mouth hanging open. "_You_ haven't gotten a good sleep in a while? Please tell me that you're not being serious. _I_ haven't gotten a good sleep since _you_ got me pregnant David Gordon. You know how long that is? I'm seventeen weeks pregnant now. Yeah, seventeen. That means that I haven't had a good sleep for months. So don't you go around telling me how terribly you've been sleeping. You spend seventeen weeks up with so-called "morning" sickness, or worrying, or with four separate sets of limbs beating you up from the inside while you are trying to get to sleep. _Then_ tell me that you've had a rough couple of weeks. Until then, I don't want to hear your babyish excuses. Got it?"

He opened his mouth to respond when we heard a wail. Haylie. Fabulous.

Gordo kicked off the blankets and turned out the lamp on his night table. "Look," he began, heading to his dresser. "With all of your yelling you woke up Haylie. Now she's going to be up all night, wanting to sleep with us. Fabulous." Pulling a t-shirt on, he stopped his sarcastic ranting. "And after this you'll still want me to get whatever it is you wanted before, won't you? It might be better than her kicking though."

"Right, because you're too lazy to go get me some chocolate ice cream. Oh, and about Hailey's kicking… I hope you have fun with her kicking you on the couch," I said, as I closed the bedroom door behind him. Slowing making my way back to bed, the tears started to flow.

I plopped myself down on the bed and cried. Looking around the room I saw the pictures of my wedding. That made the tears come even faster. On a shelf between the closets there were the pictures of Brigette and Haylie, all the way from Brigette's first ultrasound to the ones that were only a few months old. At that point I was sobbing. Finally my gaze went to my night table, which had all of the ultrasound pictures for these babies. I looked down and pulled my shirt up so it rested on the top of my stomach. I felt a little tap against my belly at that point. Not a hard one that I usually had been getting, but a soft, gentle one.

And the waterworks continued. Alligator tears welled up and flowed freely down my cheeks at that point. Wanting to obey doctor's orders, I lay down. "Bedrest," I reminded myself, "had been instructed for a reason." That reason being the safety of the four children that I was carrying. If I just did whatever I wanted, I may end up with… the thought was too terrible to think about.

As my tears and sniffling began to subside, my eyes started to close again. Haylie had just stopped crying, so the house was quiet again. Taking a few (okay, several) deep breaths to calm myself down, I snuggled up under all of the blankets again. With the final tears running down my cheeks I managed to think of how tomorrow was the day that I finally got to find out if my babies were going to be boys or girls.

That quickly dried up all of the tears. With a smile on my face, I tried to keep that good thought at the front of my mind. Pink or blue? With the end of the pink-or-blue mystery finally going to come to an end tomorrow I managed to fall asleep.


	10. Pink or Blue?

I know it's taken me forever to update again! I'm really sorry, forgive me? Please? I'm going to try to get these chapters up as fast as possible. I'm trying to write a Lily/James (Harry Potter) story so I'm probably not going to make this story too much longer. Sorry guys. ( I haven't been getting all of the reviews that I've wanted to get though, so I'm don't think that there's a huge point in continuing the story for nothing.

If you want me to continue the story then you're going to have to review, review, review! I want to be up to 60 reviews by the time that chapter ten is up and out. I think that's pretty reasonable, so please give me a good, solid review. I'd prefer if it wasn't just "i luv it update soon plz" or something else illegible like that. P Also… please read and review my Sirius Black story (check my profile for the link). I'd love to have a grand total of five reviews on that one, so if you like Harry Potter give it a shot, you won't be disappointed (I hope).

Anyway, enough talking. On with the story! Hope you guys all enjoy it. I also hope that it was worth the wait, even though it may not have been my _best_ work ever.

xoxo,

Lily

**Chapter Ten**

**Pink or Blue?**

This was it. Today was the day. The day we found out the end to the question that had plagued us even since I found out I was pregnant, and especially since we found out it was quads. Time out answer the age-old question…

Pink or blue?

Also, the bet needed to be settled. Who would win… me or Gordo? Perhaps there would be a tie, with us having two boys and two girls. Maybe there would be three boys and a girl to even up the family. It could also put the girls on the bottom side of it all, if there turned out to be four boys. On the other hand… we could end up with _another_ four daughters, leaving Gordo on his own in the house of estrogen. There could also be three girls and a boy, giving Gordo his son but still leaving the boys painfully outnumbered in the house.

But, by the end of the day, we would have answers to the question. Hopefully at least.

What would happen if we had one or more stubborn children, leaving us unable to shop for more specific items until we found out… or perhaps even until the birth, if he or she remained a stubborn child. Well, it would be nice to have some unisex things anyway. And, especially if the baby turned out to be female, they would have clothes to wear.

There are worse things that could happen. Especially with the risk of a multiple birth pregnancy.

Well, _the_ appointment had approached, and faster than I expected it to. You have quite the amount of things to do when you're expecting to double your family size so quickly. Even though I, having been instructed to take it as easy as I possibly could, couldn't be as much help as I would have wanted to, I still think that we had gotten a lot of stuff done for me only being 17 weeks today. We would have had 23 weeks left if I was having another singleton pregnancy, but now we didn't have as much time left. After all, term for a quadruplet pregnancy is about 29 or 30 weeks, meaning that I would be ready to pop 25 earlier than expected. Which meant that there was going to be a big rush.

"Ready to go hun?" asked Gordo gently as he watched me stumble over to the fridge. He had been more careful than usual to not step on my toes for the past couple of days, ever since I'd blown up at him for not getting me what I had been craving two nights ago. He knew that he was in the dog house, and was really trying to get out of it.

"Basically," I replied, sighing. "Just let me get my water out before we leave."

He nodded and didn't say anything. He had seen and experienced first hand how hormonal I had gotten with him this pregnancy and seemed to be afraid to deal with me again after he dealt with it the first few times. Opening the door for me a couple of minutes later, he helped me to the car so we could finally see what we had to be prepared for.

"What do you think the ideal division of boys and girls would be Gordo?" I asked on the drive to the doctor's office.

"Lizzie, baby, we've been through this several times already," he said, not taking his eyes off the road. "Is it really necessary to have the conversation again?"

"Yes," I said, temper flaring up for the umpteenth time that morning.

He sighed. Then came the answer that I had heard oh so many times before. "Two boys and two girls," he began, but looking at my face he saw that I had wanted to hear the entire explanation behind his choice. "This way each of the quads would have a built-in best friend… hopefully at least. What would you want to have?"

"You already know," I stated simply.

"Yeah, but you asked me so I can ask you too. It's only fair," he said with a smirk.

"Two boys, two girls. Same reason as you."

Gordo gave a small smile at my bluntness and simplicity as he pulled into the parking lot of Dr. Mackenzie's office. He helped me out of the car and then proceeded to hold my hand as we walked into the office.

3 … 4 … 3

Half an hour later Gordo and I were sitting in Dr. Mackenzie's office, clutching hands for dear life. The second that she came in, he and I started grinning like two idiots. We were two idiots though, so it wouldn't have really changed her opinion on the two of us. She gave us a warm smile. "Ready?"

We both nodded. Within a matter of minutes we had an ultrasound tech in covering my belly with goop and trying to make small talk. "Do you have any children already?" She asked as she finished setting up.

"Yeah," I replied quickly. "Two girls, Brigette and Haylie."

"Well, let's see what you're going to be adding to your bunch shall we," she said kindly.

The minutes when she was looking for the babies' sexes seemed to drag on. It was starting to get quite crowded and the babies were getting harder and harder to distinguish between. Gordo kept wringing his hands and I was biting my lip nervously, waiting for the tech to give us some news.

She smiled. "Found something."

Gordo's head shot up more quickly than I'd seen it do in a long time. "Something," he repeated. "Something. Which would mean boy. Unless you mean lack of something of course, which would mean a girl." I had to smile at his very obvious statement. He continued, "Which was it?"

She gave him a smile. "Something. Definitely something, see?"

Gordo gave a whoop of excitement. "I have a son!" He yelled, with a grin even more ridiculous than before on his face.

The tech and I laughed. "If that turns out to be a girl, I would be very shocked," she assured him with a smile. "Now, if you're ready, we can move on to Babies B and C. They're Mo/Di, correct?"

After Gordo and I confirmed that she proceeded to look for something on the identicals. After another few minutes, she seemed to have found what she was looking for. However, before she told us what they were, she thought that it would be better to make sure that they had the same "bits" so-to-speak. It didn't take long before she looked up again. "Congratulations on your identical daughters!"

My grin got even bigger than it had been before. A son and two girls, we were on track so far. The girls were even the identical two, just like I had wanted them to be. Now, all we needed was for Baby D to be a boy and we were all set.

The ultrasound tech seemed to be having a bit more difficulty with this baby than the other ones though. We had a stubborn child it appeared. After quite a bit of effort with no success, she decided that today just wasn't the day. "I'm sorry Lizzie, Gordo, but I can't seem to get a good look between Baby D's legs. If you really want we can schedule another ultrasound for a later date or we can just wait until you give birth and have a surprise baby."

Gordo and I had a short discussion and ended up deciding that we were going to plan to have another ultrasound in a couple of weeks. With that the tech printed off the prints of the kids and scheduled us an ultrasound in a couple of weeks as I went through with the rest of my appointment with Dr. Mackenzie.

3 … 4 … 3

On the ride home, Gordo groaned. "Two more girls, what am I going to do with you all?"

I laughed. "Love them. And pray that you have more boy swimmers than we originally though so we end up with another boy."

He pretended to be insulted and swatted at me. "Careful!" I cried out laughing. "You don't want to hurt me! I'm to good to you."

He rolled his eyes. "You mean you used to be good to me. We haven't done anything in a while."

I gave him what I hoped was my sweetest smile, even though I didn't think it was. I didn't think that I was looking my best recently. "Doctor's orders."

Sighing, he said, "This kids know how to mess with their dad already. They bug me already."

I raised an eyebrow. "What did you say hun?"

"I love them already," he said in a rush, giving me a heart melting smile.

"Sure," I laughed, wacking him on the side of the head.

3 … 4 … 3

Well, this wasn't as good as I had hoped that it was going to be. Review if you want to ever find out the gender of Baby B and see what happens to our favourite characters.

xoxo,

Lily


	11. Bed Rest

Dun dun dun! Already another chapter up. Is everybody proud of me? I sure am. I never update this quickly. Especially when my requests don't get fulfilled. wink, wink nudge, nudge _Please_ read the author's note at the end of the story. There is some important information in there that I think you all need to know. Anyway, enough rambling, on with the story. (Yay, over two thousand words this chapter!)

… 4 + 4 8 …

**Chapter Eleven**

**Bed Rest**

I lay down on my bed, staring up at the ceiling, examining all of the designs on it. I had already stared up at it so many times that there was nothing left to examine, but I was bored out of my mind. Today was the day of the school reunion. On doctor's orders, I had been placed on strict bedrest. It was the downside of what had happened when we had found out the sexes of the babies. Dr Mackenzie had told me that I was to spend as much time in bed as I possibly could, to try and prevent going into preterm labour.

I was now nineteen weeks pregnant, being that I would be considered to be at term and my doctors would stop trying to prevent me from going into labour in ten weeks. Unless there was some sort of life-threatening problem for me or one of the quads of course, then I'd be allowed to give birth sooner.

I got sick of looking at my ceiling and sighed. I was bored out of my mind, and had nothing left to do. I'd only been on bedrest for a couple of weeks and was already sick of it. It wasn't as bad when there were people around who I could talk to or call, but when there wasn't really anybody it got very boring very fast.

If I hadn't gotten pregnant, I wouldn't have been stuck on bedrest. If I wouldn't have gotten pregnant, I would've been able to go to the reunion. Actually, it was only because I was having four babies at the same time. I wasn't expecting to have this happen to be. Damn it, I don't think that any person would expect it. And if they did, they'd be on some serious shit.

Okay, breathe. Potty mouth is not good for somebody who is going to be having _six_ children under the age of six. It wouldn't be too impressive. Especially when you have six children talking like a bunch of sailors.

Turning to look at the digital clock, I saw that only a few minutes had passed. It was going to be a long day.

… 4 + 4 8 …

Later that day when Gordo had come home from the reunion with the girls, I had to hear all about what had happened between everybody. How so-and-so ended up marrying some girl and their little girl, about the class slut (there was no polite way to put it, that's what she was) and her three kids aged four to nine, how the two of the geeky people got married and where now really rich and expecting for the first time… blah, blah, blah.

Time since then had started passing more and more slowly. Sure, bedrest seemed to be a pretty fun concept at the beginning. I mean, who wouldn't want to just be able to laze around and not have to work or do housework for weeks on end? Well, while bedrest is nice in theory, when you're actually given the orders _not_ to do anything you get quite restless, I can tell you that much.

After this I will never take advantage of how much time I get to spend up and about. It's very frustrating when you can't get up to do anything that you want done. For instance, let's say that you want to have the basement vacuumed. Tough luck bud, you can't do that because you're going to be spending too much time on your feet.

Or maybe it's a drive to the mall that you really want, because you need some new jeans. It might be the grocery store that you need a ride to, because you're out of milk and fruit. Well, tough luck. Strict bedrest means that you get minimal time on your feet. You either need to wait for somebody to be able to go out and get the things that you need for you, or make do with whatever you do have in the house. It is _not_ fun, let me tell you.

As much as I hated being stuck on strict bedrest and as much as I was filled with self pity for a while when I had nothing else to do, I kept telling myself that I was willing to stick with the plan if I was able to make it through the next several weeks. If I survived that long without giving birth then I would be more likely to deliver four happy, healthy, well developed babies.

This thought calmed me down for a little while. Since I was officially nineteen weeks and two days today, the time shouldn't drag on too slowly from this point to the end. In ten weeks odds are I would have my babies. I hit the 29 week mark on August 10th, and the babies would have to be here by August 17th.

This was also the first day that I'd gotten to see Miranda in quite a long time. She had been off on vacation with her parents, Matt, Kyle, and Carrie. She'd only gotten back a couple of days before the reunion and had ended up using those days to unpack as well as a doctor's visit since she'd now hit the 32 week mark. But the second that she had the chance to see me again, she jumped on it and rushed over.

Because we wanted to have some time by ourselves, we sent Gordo and Matt out with the kids. Knowing not to mess with two hormonal women, they agreed and took the girls and Kyle out to the park nearby.

After a very awkward hug, she sat down next to me on the bed. Laughing at the amount of difficulty we'd had trying to hug each other with two gigantic bellies, she smiled. "So Lizzie, what's new with your pregnancy."

I laughed. Putting the kids first, in typical "Mommy" behaviour. "Well, as you've probably noticed, I've been ordered to be lazy and stay in bed most of the time now. As much as it sucks, way I'm less likely to go into pre-term labour this way. Well, not actual term because there's no way in hell that anybody's going to carry quads into the late thirties week wise, but to my term. I only have nine weeks and five days left before I'm _done_!"

Miranda's eyes widened. "That close? I'm not even two weeks ahead of you now compared to twelve! Do you have everything ready yet?"

I shrugged before speaking. "Kinda, Gordo's been doing a lot in the past week. I just wish I could help," I said wistfully, toying with one of the fraying edges of my blanket. "The only good thing is that I have an excuse to try and get out of all the bad things this way. How much do you have left to do before the baby comes? Almost done?"

"Well, we have a fair amount of it done," Miranda stated with a smile. "The only problem is how we had made the nursery so much more feminine for Carrie. We have to get rid of all of that stuff and bring back Kyle's to make it better for a boy again."

"That's why I was glad that we had two girls. It simplified the whole thing. No redoing things to make it more unisex," I said, understanding where she was coming from. My mother had told me what a pain it had been to make my flowery pink and purple nursery into something that was appropriate for Matt. That's why Miranda and Matt tried to keep it as simple as possible to change from masculine to feminine. Gordo and I had tried to skip that problem all together, and picked a Winnie the Pooh theme.

"Have you and Gordo figured out what the babies' genders are yet?" Miranda asked, while we were still on the topic of nurseries.

"Well, kinda," I said laughing. "We tried at least, but it appears that we have a stubborn and/or shy baby on our hands who isn't willing to let us know what he or she is yet."

Miranda giggled, but then pressed on. "What about the other three, what did the ultrasound tech say that they were?"

"She said that the first baby, Baby A, was a boy," I began. Miranda smiled at this, and I knew what she was thinking… lucky Gordo, he finally got his son and escaped the fate of having six daughters. "The tech said she was quite sure about that. Then she went on to Babies B and C, the identical ones, and said that they were going to be easier to tell if they both showed and she didn't think that one was a girl and one was a boy. Well, she said she was nearly positive that they were both girls."

Miranda grinned like… some form of grinning thing. "So Gordo didn't entirely escape his fate of having a million daughters then did he?"

"It appears that he didn't," I agreed. "He still has a bit of hope though… after all, there's still stubborn little Baby D who isn't letting us know whether or not our poor son is going to have a brother or be stuck with five sisters."

"True," Miranda said slowly. "The boys would still be outnumbered though."

"Yep, that's for sure," I said while attempting to prop my head back with my pillow more so I was in a more sitting-up position. As an after thought, I added, "Oh yeah. Have you and Matt come up with any names for my darling nephew yet?"

She and I talked for another couple of hours before Gordo and Matt came back from the park with four tired, giggly, and dirty children. Saying bye to her after have a quick chat with my brother, I lay down to rest. I drifted off to sleep to the sounds of Gordo attempting to give Brigette and Haylie a bath in the next room.

"It's going to be okay," I told myself in the last few minutes that I was awake. "Gordo can handle the house while I'm on bedrest. After the babies are born we might have a bit of difficulty, but that's what grandmothers are for… right?" For the first time in a while, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

… 4 + 4 8 …

Yay, another update! And it's only been five days I believe… this chapter was a quickie update for sure! I liked this one better than the last one too, less writer's block for sure which made updating a lot easier. Hope you all liked it, and remember to _review_, even with constructive criticism or ideas. I only got six reviews last time, which is quite discouraging.

This time I want to have 67 reviews on "And Babies Make Eight"… _but_ I also would like to see each of my other stories hit the five review mark. It's not hard, "The Dozen and Crazy Voldemort" requires no brain power and is funny (I hope) and "Sirius Black's Journal" are the journals of Sirius Black (duh). I thrive off of reviews, if I don't get reviews there won't be any updates. So review, review, _review_ and tell me what you think Baby D should be A) boy or B) girl.

If this keeps up, there will be another update by the end of the week… shocking and pleasant, isn't it?

xoxo,

Lily


	12. Of Birthdays and Babies

First off… I'm sorry for the _long_ delay this time! I've had such a hard time updating in the summer, but I promise that it won't become a habit. Even though since I start school in nine days I can't be absolutely positive of that.

I suppose that this chapter may not be up to par, but I'm trying, really! And in either the next chapter or the one after that the babies are (finally) going to be born. Yay, I'm so proud of myself for finally nearing the end of this story. And, after all of this hassle, I might even write a sequel. gulp I can't believe that I'd be willing to put even more commitment into one of these stories again but I would. If enough people are interested in it of course.

Well, I suppose I should continue on with the story… remember, read and review! Also, if you read the author's note at the end of the story I will have something that you guys will have the option of doing. O If you want to know what it is then I suggest that you read, review, and enjoy! Here comes chapter twelve of _And Babies Make Eight_. Hope you like it!

… 4 + 4 8 … … 4 + 4 8 … … 4 + 4 8 …

**Of Birthdays and Babies**

A couple of weeks later on June 21st, I woke up to giggling. I recognized the higher pitched voice as Brigette's and the younger, louder one as Haylie. I figured that since it was my birthday that they were going to try and surprise me because of that, not the fact that I was 22 weeks pregnant as of today. Just as I was thinking this, I heard Brigette say "Shh!" quite loudly to Haylie, who was starting to sing. "Not yet. We have to wait for Daddy to come up with the food!"

I struggled to keep a straight face and to act as if I had never heard anything. I heard the two of them patter out of the room and then, in what they must have thought was a quiet way, shut the bedroom door. A few minutes later, I heard Gordo remind the two girls to be quiet. I heard the soft creek of a door opening, the two girls tip-toeing, and Gordo's footsteps. That's when I felt two thuds on my bed. "Surprise!" Brigette and Haylie called out.

"Happy birthday honey," Gordo said, giving me a kiss.

The girls, imitating their father, both gave me hugs and kisses. "Look what I made Mommy!" Haylie said, pointing to the tray that Gordo had just put down.

"Good job princess," I said.

"I have to get something to show you Mommy," said Brigette, dashing out of the room. A couple of minutes later she returned with a card she made me. Pointing to the eight stick figures she told me who was who. "This is you, the tall one is Daddy, the big girl is me, this is Haylie, and the four little ones are the babies." The babies were miniscule, even compared to the stick girl who was supposed to be Haylie.

"Very nice sweet pea," I said none the less. Brigette beamed.

"I made you toast," Haylie told me very proudly, sticking her chubby little finger in my toast. She now had a lot of peanut butter on her finger, which she licked off happily.

"Thanks girls," I said after eating a bit. "You did a very good job." Both girls grinned at this, they seemed to think that they were the best cooks ever. They then had to run off to get ready. Haylie was going to Gordo's parents and Brigette was going to school.

After the girls had left with Gordo I spent some time thinking, as was quite common since I'd been put on bed rest. Since it was my birthday, we were planning on trying to make the best of it. I couldn't get out of bed, but we were going to play games with the girls and order from my favourite restaurant tonight. Gordo had also gone and rented some of the best chick flicks for me to watch during the day, when he could escape them because he would be at work.

At first the day was passing fairly slowly. I tried to read but I couldn't focus. Picking up the movie on the top of the pile that Gordo had brought me, I popped in _When Harry Met Sally_. I spend a couple hours watching that and _Sleepless in Seattle_.

"It's going to be a very boring birthday," I thought to myself as I tried to take a nap that afternoon.

What I had thought had been true most of the day. Things didn't pick up until the girls had come home that afternoon. We played several games of go fish before we ate that night. By the time we finished, it was close to bedtime for the two girls. We watched some _Sleeping Beauty_, then Gordo took the two girls to bed. I fell asleep before he got back.

… …

After another couple of weeks, when I was 24 weeks and 2 days pregnant, I woke up in the middle of the night because one of the babies was using my bladder as a trampoline. Sighing, I got up to go to the bathroom. When I got back to bed though, I couldn't get back to sleep. I had an odd feeling in my torso, which I recognized as some sort of contraction. Figuring that they were just Braxton-Hicks, I rolled over and tried to make myself comfortable.

They wouldn't stop though. I sighed before getting up to try to see if drinking some water would make a difference. Unfortunately, it didn't. At this point, I figured that I should probably start timing the contractions to see how far apart they were. Walking down to the family room, I started reading my new favourite book: _When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads_. Even though I was trying not to think about this part, I decided to read the part on preterm labour.

Within the next hour I flipped through the book, reading parts of chapters I thought I might be needing soon. When the hour was finished though, I made my way back upstairs and woke up Gordo. Gently shaking his shoulder, I whispered, "Gordo honey, wake up. It's me, Lizzie."

He mumbled something and rolled over. "Yeah," he said groggily, opening a single eye.

"I think we need to go to the hospital," I said slowly. "I've had seven contractions in the past hour. They're not that big but I really think that we need to go."

That got him up. Before I even really got the chance to move he had grabbed my duffle bag and tossed me a portable phone. "Call your mother, see if she can come over here to watch the girls while I take you to the hospital," he instructed while changing into jeans and a T-shirt. Suddenly, he shook his head. "No, let me call her. You get dressed."

I pulled on my comfiest maternity outfit before being whisked downstairs by Gordo. It was only a few minutes before my mother arrived and Gordo ushered me to the car. I knew that it was going to be a _long_ night.

… 4 + 4 8 …

Exactly twenty-seven minutes after I got into the car with Gordo we arrived at the hospital. He quickly explained what was going on to the people at the front desk. Once he mentioned that I was expecting quads and that I was only 24 weeks pregnant they hurried me off upstairs. If the babies were to be born today, they would only have about a 40-60 shot at survival.

Next thing I knew, I had several doctors around me. They got me to try and relax while I was getting shots of this and that, trying to stop my labour. The doctors kept coming in and out though, so even though the contractions had pretty much stopped I was still nervous.

Finally, after several hours in the hospital, one of the doctors came to talk to me and try to explain what was going on. "As you are aware," he began, "you've been in premature labour. At this point the babies would have around a 55 chance of survival if you went into labour at this point. We're going to give you a steroid shot within the hour, to try to speed up the babies growth. As of now we want to keep you in the hospital, just to try to keep you pregnant for quite a while."

I nodded. This wasn't what I had wanted to happen, I didn't want to be stuck in the hospital for weeks until I had the quads. I vaguely heard Gordo ask how much the babies weighed, and snapped out of my trance.

"It looks like they're all somewhere between 1 pound, 10 ounces and 2 pounds, 3 ounces," the doctor stated. "We want to get those babies as big as possible though. A baby who is considered to have a Very Low Birth Weight is 3 pounds, 4 ounces or less. We want to get them at least there, but would rather have them as close as possible to just having a Low Birth weight. That's 5 pounds, 8 ounces. Not that we expect them to get that big of course."

He stopped talking for a second, trying to make sure that we understood all of this before continuing. "We want you to at least make it to 28 weeks. This is the stage where they're less likely to have breathing problems. We're going to let you see how long you can last with this though. If any of the babies are in danger we're going to give you a C-section then though. We still want you to aim to remain pregnant for as long as possible though. The average gestation length for quads is only 29 to 30 weeks, but I would like to see you get past that as far as you can. There have been people who have somehow managed to make it to 37 weeks with quads."

He must of seen my eyes widen and Gordo's jaw drop then, because he laughed and tried to reassure us on what he had meant my that. "There's no way that I expect you to get that far Lizzie," he assured me. "I was just saying this because I wanted to give you hope that it in fact _is_ possible to have quads reach a normal gestation length. There was also a set of quads that had all of the babies over a normal birth weight of 6 pounds, 8 ounces… the mother was carrying over 26 pounds of baby! There is also no way that I expect you to carry them to that drastic length." He gave a small chuckle at my relieved face.

"Well Mrs Gordon, I suggest you get some rest. You're going to need it." And with that he left me and Gordo in a stunned silence. The babies were going to be coming sooner than we had anticipated. I might be in the hospital from now until I gave birth if the babies didn't co-operate and at least mostly stay put for awhile. It could be a long hospital stay.

… 4 + 4 8 … … 4 + 4 8 … … 4 + 4 8 …

Dun, dun, dun… Lizzie went into premature labour. How long will she hold out? Will we ever find out if Baby D is a boy or a girl? Stay tuned to find out! (haha)

Anyway, I was wondering if somebody would want to BETA the next chapter of my story? Yes, no, maybe? If I have a lot of offers I might change the BETA each time for the remaining few chapters. And there's not going to be too many of them! We're almost done. Yes, it took years to get here but we did get here and that's what really matters… right?

Anyway, now that you've read you might as well review.

xoxo,

Lily


	13. Sooner Rather Than Later

Yikes, this chapter has been a long time coming. Sorry guys, I'm a slow poke! However, I do have two reasons: the little one being that my four classes this semester are science, math, English, and French (ouch). The second is that we had a death in my close family. I tried my best on this chapter, but it may not quite be up to par because of all the stress. Sorry guys. But here it is, the long(-ish) anticipated and awaited chapter thirteen!

If you guys are still reading this, I hope you know that I love you all for putting up with me and my very slow updating.

-- Lily Fortune (haha! don't I wish) wink

Warning: This chapter definitely contains some language that is not in any way, shape, or form suitable for young children. If you don't like swearing, I would also take this warning seriously since there is definitely some of it. Take this seriously. If there are any young enough children reading this I would stop and review asking for a summary without the swearing. Consider yourself warned.

* * *

**Sooner Rather Than Later**

I officially never want to be stuck in a hospital ever again.

Today was the day that I hit 27 weeks and two days pregnant. This means that I had been stuck in the hospital for a full three long weeks. I was almost approaching the all-important 28 week mark though, and about to make it into my third trimester. The doctors had been trying to keep the babies in using everything they could think of. I'm sure if they thought that if I stood on my head for the next four weeks that would keep the babies in they'd order me to do that.

The problem with this was that I was sick to death of hospital things. I had no idea what the hell I wanted anymore: keep the babies in and be bored in the hospital for the next several weeks or give birth now to sick children but be allowed to leave sooner.

Okay, I actually did know exactly what I wanted. I wanted these babies healthy. But why did it have to be so damn hard to be pregnant sometimes?

Time did pass, though very slowly and in a dragging-on kind of way. I had managed to keep up my diary of the pregnancy and a video diary to document everything that was happening as well, just since they were things to do. I knew that the kids would want to see this someday so I tried to keep it as G or PG rated as possible, but there were a few bad words that slipped out.

I had given Gordo a list of things that I wanted done in the next few weeks, mostly things that I was just glad that I was getting out of. We had agreed that we didn't want to paint the nursery until the quads were born, that way we could decide how we wanted to divide the four of them up and the like.

Gordo brought in Brigette and Haylie often, since they wanted to see Mommy a lot even though they weren't allowed. They were the beacons of hope for me, my two angels. They often came bearing gifts of cards, pictures, and various forms of artwork.

"Mommy," Brigette had asked one day. "When are you going to come home and play with me?"

"After the babies are born sweetheart," I had answered patiently, even though she had already asked me this question several times. Gordo claimed to have heard the question multiple times as well, she seemed to think that the answer would change to something sooner if she kept asking the question over and over again.

She had looked disappointed, as her plan to get a different answer hadn't been working. You could almost see one of those cartoon-y light bulbs flick on over her head. "How many more minutes until the babies are born then? Will it be tomorrow? Then you could come home and play with me in two days!" She had held up two fingers like a peace sign to represent the two days she was hoping it would be.

I had laughed. "I'm sorry honey, it's going to be more than two days. I'm not going to be able to come home for a few days after the babies are born. It will be a while before Mommy will be able to play house again with you."

She had pouted and Haylie, seeing that her idolised big sister was pouting, began to pout as well. Gordo had just laughed at them while I gave them hugs. After a few minutes they left, and I tried to fall asleep.

Kick, kick, kick. The quads were wide awake and possibly having a two-on-two sports match in my belly. It was impossible to get comfy at this point in my pregnancy, I was so sore and stiff that I could never be comfy to sleep or even sit up. I had no idea how I was supposed to hold out for another few weeks, I was in agony as it was.

I wasn't sure if this was a fair trade-off: all of my freedom for months on end plus having a really screwed up body that had been to hell and back for the chance of four healthy babies. I was praying to God every day that the babies would be born with no birth defects and be healthy, but I wasn't sure if that was going to happen or not. The odds weren't in our favour, and the fact that my body kept attempting to go into (pre-term) labour wasn't helping us much.

The doctors now had me living on a day by day basis of when I was going to have my C-section, since we weren't sure how much longer my body was going to be able to take the stress of this. I was being told that our latest goal was 32 weeks. Anytime after that if I went into labour, they weren't going to try and stop my body from doing what it wanted to.

Shifting my weight I fell into a very light sleep, waking up every couple of hours. By morning, I was still not rested and had no desire to move. In fact, I only had one thought in my head-'Why the fuck did this have to be me!?'

* * *

The day that I finally hit 28 weeks wasn't as big of a milestone as I was hoping for. Sure, they were happy that I had finally made it into the third trimester but it wasn't the gigantic celebration that I had been hoping for. It was more of an 'okay, great, now try to hit the 30 week mark since that'll be much better for the kids'. This wasn't a good combination with all of my ever-present raging pregnancy hormones.

When Gordo came to visit that day, he brought flowers but no children. "How are you honey?" he said giving me a hug.

"Stretched to the max, sick of being pregnant, and I want to go home," I said before bursting into tears. "This is not fair. I can't do this anymore, I just can't. Why did you have to get me pregnant you asshole!?" By the end of that, I was no longer upset but angry. "I didn't want to have six kids so why the hell did you have to get me pregnant again!?"

"Lizzie, baby," Gordo said in what he seemed to think was going to be a re-assuring voice for me. "I didn't know that we were going to have four more children. You and I both thought that we were going to just have one more that was hopefully going to be a boy."

"No!" I glared at him. "You wanted to have a boy because you're so fucking mad that you don't have anybody else in the house that's a boy. Don't you say that we wanted a boy since you know damn well that I didn't give a shit if we had a boy or a girl. It was you not me!"

Gordo sighed. "Okay Lizzie. If you want to think that we'll just say that I was the one who wanted a boy and you were diplomatic and didn't care. Okay?"  
"You don't believe me!" I whispered, starting to cry again. "You don't think that I actually didn't care do you?"

"No, I do believe you," he said with a smile. When I opened my mouth to disagree with him again, he put a finger to my lips. "Don't say anything baby. We both know that the stress isn't good for you at this time, and could bring on labour."

"Fine," I said, snuggling back down under the blankets. At that point a perinatologist that I had already seen two or three times in my stay came in to examine the babies and me. Seeing the two of us standing apart from one another, not talking, she seemed to know that something unpleasant had been taking place just before she walked in.

"Hello Gordo, Lizzie," she said nodding to each of us politely. "Gordo, pull up a chair next to your wife while I see how she's doing cooking those babies."

She took a look at my blood pressure, the heart rates of both me and the quads, asked me lots and lots of questions, and finally looked at how dilated and effaced I was. She bit her lower lip slightly and seemed to look a bit concerned for a second before looking up at Gordo and me.

"Well Lizzie, it seems that these babies are starting to try and make an escape."

I raised an eyebrow and Gordo tilted his head. With a small laugh she started explaining.  
"Well, you know that you need to be 10 centimetres dilated and 100 percent effaced to have a baby- at least I would hope that you would with having two daughters already," she said with a laugh. "Anyway, right now you're 2 cm and 30 effaced. We're going to see what you can do to have you make it to 32 weeks but the odds aren't really in your favour right now."

"Should we tell the girls that the babies are going to be coming soon now, or should we wait a bit longer before telling them that Mommy is going to be having the babies soon?" I asked, not sure of the answer that I wanted to hear.

The doctor bit her lip, thinking. "I don't think that it will be long before the babies are born," she said slowly. After a short pause she continued. "However it wouldn't be entirely shocking if you did end up making it to 32 weeks and you were to tell the girls now then they might keep asking you when the babies are coming. It all depends on what you've told Brigette and Haylie, right?" she asked. When we nodded she continued. "So what have you told them?"

"Well," Gordo began slowly. "We did tell them that the babies were going to be born around the time that school started; we figured that since she was going to be around 30 to 33 weeks pregnant at that point I believe that it shouldn't be that far off when they would actually be born. We also did say that Mommy was going to be coming home a few days after the babies were born though since they kept asking."

"In that case," she replied, "I wouldn't say to much just yet. If you were to say that the babies were going to be born soon and they weren't born for another few weeks you would have two very rowdy little girls on your hands. Since Lizzie typically stays home with them and you work outside of the home, I'm assuming that they're quite close to her. Once Lizzie reaches the 30 week mark I would feel free to tell the girls that she is going to be home soon. But if she gets quite dilated, effaced, or her water breaks I would recommend telling the girls as soon as possible- especially if it's her water breaking. I'll let you two talk. Lizzie, I'll be treating you for the next five days before I go on vacation. I hope to still see you here when I get back."

She got her wish, but not by much. I went into labour two days after she got back when I was 30 weeks and one day pregnant.

* * *

Aww crap. These chapters never end up as long as I want them to. I don't get how some people can have about 30-page chapters up every week or two. I think that they must not actually even be people, but robots instead. Nobody could actually do that right?

Anyway, moving on! Thanks to my BETA anyadelacour for helping me out with this one! Anyway, now that you've read you might as well review.

xoxo,  
Lily

PS. Babies next chapter! Yay! We're almost done everybody, so review! I will not I repeat not update until I have at least 100 reviews. So update or no babies. (I'm evil! moo-ha-ha.)


	14. It's A

First of all, thank you to anybody who's read this story all the way to Chapter Fourteen. I can't believe that people would continue reading after some of the early chapter's quality (seriously, they're utter crap!) but if you have I'm sending you tons of virtual hugs and cookies.

Well, this is a bittersweet moment for me. After all this time, this is the chapter that I intended to cut the story off with. There have been thoughts of having a few more after this that involved the stay in the NICU (Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit), bringing the babies home, and so on but I'm not to sure what I'm going to do about all of those ideas. I may end up writing another chapter if I get enough reviews asking for one or if I have a stroke of creative genius sometime soon, but I'm not going to commit to anything like that just in case.

It's hard to believe that this is the moment we've all been waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for and it's time for the new babies to be born after all this! I may have to re-do some of the earlier chapters, since they are quite bad, but I'll leave the originals somewhere because they're the first things that I ever actually posted on this site, years and years ago. Almost three years ago in fact, which is quite hard to believe.

I know this is turning into a ramble, so I should probably stop now before it gets too out-of-control. Once again, thank you all.

-- Flower 'n' Prongs

**It's A…**

It was August 20th and I was lying around in bed, just waiting for a doctor to come in and check on me, when I suddenly knew that it was time. I was relaxing when I suddenly began to feel as if I had just wet myself. I was starting to panic, when a nurse walked in.

"Hello Lizzie, how are we doing today?" she asked with a smile.

"I…" I began, shifting uncomfortably. "I think my water just broke."

The nurse's eyes widened as she checked me. "Yes, they most certainly have honey. We'll just call your husband and get him over here so we can send you off to the OR. You should have these babies within a couple of hours now honey."

From that point on, it was a lot of rushing as, since I had made it past the average gestation, they wanted me to deliver. If I didn't deliver, I would have to be put on antibiotics to prevent infection and they would have to make sure that none of the babies were in distress. It was much easier to avoid this altogether and just deliver the babies now. However, babies born at 30 weeks would have a rough road ahead of them and I knew that. We were staring weeks in the NICU in the face, and I knew that, but there was nothing I could do at this point.

About twenty minutes after the nurse confirmed that my water broke, Gordo arrived. Although we had been expecting this to happen for a while now he was panicking about our babies, worried about the fact that I was going to have a C-section, and going through his usual mix of excitement and terror before delivery. I felt the same things, of course, but I was already focused on what I was going to have to do soon enough that I wasn't as terrified as he seemed to be.

"How are you doing honey?" Gordo asked me with a nervous smile. He knew that he had to be strong for me, although he was feeling so many other emotions. "Ready to meet our new baby boy, baby girls, and… mystery baby?" He was trying to relax me and I knew it, and it worked as that was what these past thirty weeks had been all about… the baby, now babies, that we wanted to have.

"Of course I'm ready," I said. "How could I not be ready!? As for the first question, how exactly would you be stretched to the extreme, be kicked and punched by sixteen different limbs on a regular basis, feel an internal organ contracting every five minutes or so, and on top of all that feel like you peed yourself?"

"I'll take it that you're not feeling to hot then," he mumbled while giving me a kiss.

"No shit Sherlock," I grinned, whacking him in the side of the head. "Though it'll all be worth it soon enough. At least until we end up with four screaming babies in the middle of the night or have to potty train four restless toddlers at the same time or have six rowdy teenagers or…"

I didn't get to continue that thought as Gordo put his hand over my mouth then. I tried to talk but he wouldn't move his hand. Finally, figuring that he would have to move it if I did something more drastic I bit his palm slightly. "Bloody hell!" he exclaimed, yanking his hand away as if I had burned him, as I raised an eyebrow. "You're gonna be the death of me, I swear. First making me think of all the downsides to doubling your family's size over night and then nearly biting my hand off ten seconds later!"

"Sorry honey," I said with a feigned innocent smile. Deciding that I should make sure that I was on his good side, I leaned over to give him a kiss.

Unfortunately, just as we started to get into it we heard footsteps. Reluctantly we pulled apart just before a nurse came in. We both flushed, though we tried not to look like little children who had just been caught stealing the last cookies out of the cookie jar. Thankfully, the nurse didn't notice that or brushed it off entirely, cutting us some slack. "Okay, you two are Mr and Mrs Gordon, correct?" she asked, looking up from her clipboard. As we both nodded, she continued. "Okay, you two are scheduled to have your Caesarean at eleven o'clock this morning."

My eyes widened as I looked at the clock. "Really? That soon? That's less than an hour away!"

"Yep, it's best if we get this babies out as quickly as possibly to prevent anything from happening while they're still in the womb due to being in active labour and not acting on that. Here's the gown you're going to have to wear during the delivery," she said, passing me a not-so-attractive, oversized gown, "and here are the scrubs that you are required to wear during your wife's surgery Mr Gordon," she stated as she passed Gordo a lump of stretchy blue and white material. "Somebody should be up here to bring you down to the Operating Room within ten minutes, so please put those on right away."

As she left, Gordo pulled on his scrubs and I changed from one gown to the other. It was difficult, since I was so huge, but still awesome to change clothing since the other gown was quite soaked with one of the baby's amniotic fluid. I knew it would only be a matter of minutes before this one was wet too, but for the time being, it was wonderful to feel dry and remotely clean. Just as I was telling this to Gordo, nurses came in and told me that it was time that I headed down so that I could get my local anesthesia put in.

As I was being wheeled to the operating room, what was actually going on really hit me. It was then, for the first time since I realized that I was in labour, that I began to cry. Gordo looked slightly worried at first, but seemed to know that I could sense that because it quickly disappeared and he looked like he knew it was going to go just fine. Clasping my hand tightly in one hand, he ran his free hand through his brown curls. Leaning over to whisper to me, he said in a calmer and clearer voice than I'd heard him use in quite some time, "It's going to be alright." I nodded, and I could see a nurse smile at him out of the corner of my eye.

By the time that we reached the Operating Room my tears had stopped, although my face was still slightly swollen around my eyes and my breathing was a bit ragged. Somebody passed me a decent sized handful of Kleenex and as soon as I was done wiping my eyes and blowing my nose, the real fun began.

Since I was having some pretty major surgery on my abdomen, we had to first make sure that the anesthesiologist showed up and gave me my needled. Although he showed up on time, it took him two tries to get it in right. Now, let me tell you, those two tries were some of the most painful things that have happened to me in a long, long time. Getting a needle in your back is anything but fun. Of course, the needle did get in correctly the second time and I was instructed to lay down and we would see when it kicked in to get the surgery started.

Slowly, I lost the feeling in my toes, followed by the feeling in my calves, and the numbness slowly worked its way up my body. When I said that I had lost most of my feeling the medical crew that was going to help with my Caesarean and with the babies immediately after birth (including some nurses who were from the NICU, doctors, and surgeons) started bustling around doing the last minute things that they needed to before the babies were born.

Seeing all the commotion and having it all be so close made me start to panic. As a few of the doctors were putting the sheet up around my chest to stop me from seeing what was going on when the surgery began I tried to take a few deep breaths to keep myself calm. However, it just wasn't working. In a timid voice, I called out, "Gordo?"

He had been talking to one of the nurses who was getting the incubators ready. Turning away from the bed that was for our mysterious Baby D, he looked me over quickly. Seeing that I was trembling and pale he came over and sat in the seat that had been brought for him for during the actual C-section. He kissed my forehead gently before asking in a calm, collected voice, "What's wrong sweetheart?"

"I… I don't feel so great," I said. "My head hurts and I'm dizzy and I… and I…"

He bit his lip for a second before saying anything. "Do you want me to go get somebody to come see what's going on with you baby? I'm sure they'll be able to reassure you about what's going on." He continued to stroke my hair throughout this, in the same stead rhythm that he had been since he first got over to me. Slowly but surely, it was starting to calm me down.

I closed my eyes for a moment and took a couple of deep breaths before I said, "No, honey, I don't think that that's going to be necessary." I gave him a shaky grin as I said this, hoping that it looked believable to him.

He was opening his mouth to say something back to me when one of the doctor's came over. "Are you feeling alright Mrs Gordon? Are there any last-minute problems or questions that you'd like to address before the Caesarean begins?"

At the same time that I was starting to say, "No, I think I'm fine thanks," Gordo spoke up. "As a matter of fact, I think there is one. She was just saying that she's feeling dizzy and that she has a headache. Is this normal, perhaps a side effect of the anesthesia?" I glared at him as he said this, while at the same time was thankful that he asked that question.

The doctor laughed. "As a matter of fact that's very common." We both must have looked relieved after he said that, because he had a tiny little smirk on his face after he said it. "Would that be it for your questions or are there any others that you'd like to address?"

I spoke up then. "Er, I know I said I didn't have a question but I actually do have one small one," I began. "How long do you think it will after the C-section will it be before I'm allowed to go see the babies in the NICU?"

"That will depend on how you're feeling and how the surgery goes," he said. "However, we like to try and get the mothers up to see their babies as soon as possible. Now, any more questions?" We both shook our heads, so he continued. "Okay, since the two of you are now ready I'll go tell the rest of the staff that we can start now. I think that all four of your babies will be delivered very shortly now."

As he walked off, Gordo looked at me and whispered, "This is it."

"I know," I whispered back. "After all, I felt like I wet my pants or gown or whatever for a while and now I'm in an friggen OR ready to be sliced open. I realized that a while ago." He rolled his eyes at me and I giggled, when I was told that they were going to start surgery in the next two minutes or so. I bit my lip and looked up at Gordo.

"Well, they're coming now whether we're ready for them or not," he said, squeezing my hand tightly. His eyes were filled with anticipation, joy, and pure excitement. All I managed to do was smile back and grasp his hand tighter. From that point on, it was out of our hands and we had to put the fate of our babies into the hands of complete strangers and pray for the best.

I had been silently praying, just moving my lips, when one of the surgeons spoke up a few minutes into the surgery. "Okay Lizzie, this is it. We're going to open your uterus now and try to get all of the babies out as quickly as possible. We'll show you the babies if nothing seems to need immediate care, but if there is something we'll have to try to rush them off to the NICU as quickly as possible."

After a couple of minutes, I heard one of the best sounds that I've heard in my entire life, or at least since Brigette and Hailey were born. In a very loud, clear voice came a baby's cry. Looking up at Gordo, I could see tears in his eyes and that he was brimming with pride. The two of them set me off, of course, and I started to cry as well. One of the nurses quickly yelled out, "Eleven ten AM!" while another called out "It's a boy!" and showed him to Gordo and I. After a mere two or three seconds she hurried off on her way to the incubator.

"What baby was that?" asked Gordo to somebody on the other side of the sheet.

"That was Baby A," a male voice replied. "We're going to take them out in alphabetical order, unless something serious comes up."

When he turned back to me, he said in a somewhat shocked voice, "We have a boy. A son. We are actually the parents of…"

He was interrupted with a shrill shriek at that point. "Baby B has a good set of lungs," I laughed, starting to feel better about what was going on. Just as I was finished saying that a nurse called out, "Eleven twelve AM, and it's a girl!" We got to see our newest daughter for a couple of seconds as well before she was taken away to her incubator.

The nurse had just arrived to put Baby B down when we heard "Another girl, eleven thirteen AM!"

"She's not crying," I said to Gordo, eyes wide. "She's not crying."

"Shh, it's okay honey. Remember, Hailey didn't cry either right away when she was born." He tried to say this in a reassuring way, although I could tell that he was having a hard time believing that himself at the moment.

Though we suspected that something was wrong, we were still not prepared to not get to see our second daughter. She was rushed towards the incubator and towards a team of specialists before we had the chance to see her. My motherly instinct really kicked in then, and I began to panic more than I had throughout the rest of the delivery. Thankfully though, Gordo noticed this and kissed my forehead as an attempt to calm me down. "It's okay, she's going to be okay," he repeated a few times in a soothing voice before we heard another very loud cry.

We both held our breath in the antagonizing seconds while we were waiting to hear the words that we had been waiting so long to hear. First came a call of "Eleven fifteen AM!" The final baby, Baby D, was then brought over to us. "It's a boy," said the nurse unnecessarily with a grin before she whisked him away.

By the time I was allowed out of the Operating Room, Gordo and I were both still grinning from ear to ear. I had been told to get some rest before seeing the babies, as there was nothing that we could do up until they had all been settled in the NICU. Although I had every intention of only lying down for an hour or so, I drifted off to sleep. It had been a long day already and I hadn't had a good sleep in months. Just before I dozed off, I saw Gordo walk out of the room. Before I had any time to think about it though, I was off in dreamland.

"Glad to see you've woken up," Gordo said with a grin as I opened my eyes. His eyes were dancing with excitement and he was fiddling with a little piece of paper. I took a look at the clock, and it was already past three!

"Why didn't you wake me up!?" I cried. "I want to see the quads!" I paused for a moment, before continuing. "The quads. Our quads… I like the sound of that."

"Yes, and I do too," he said with a grin. "But I also think that you may just want to know all the information I have about our newest additions now."

I grinned, which he must have understood was telling him to go on. "Okay then, first off we have Baby A, who's a boy. He was born at 11:10 AM and weighed a whooping 3lbs 7oz. He's also the longest of the kids at 16½ inches. So far he seems to have a mess of dark hair, but who knows if that will stay.

"He was followed by the identical girls, Babies B and C. Baby B was 3lbs, 4oz and born at 11:12 AM with a length of 15¾ inches. Baby C, she's the littlest, weighed in at 3lbs even being 14¾ inches tall and was born at 11:13 AM. Both of the girls are bald at this point.

"And, of course, Baby D brings up the rear. He was 3lbs 5oz, just a bit more than Baby B, and was also taller at 16¼ inches. Our last baby was born at 11:15 AM. His hair is lighter than Baby A's."

"Well, at least now I'm not completely out of it," I said with a laugh. "I don't feel like a complete dunce of a mother. You may have to relay some of those numbers to me later, as I'm not sure I'm going to be able to remember lengths and weights. Though I suppose the fact that they've been born but are still known as Babies A, B, C, and D does make me a bit of a… er… something not so great, but not horrible either."

"You're doing fine hun," he said, kissing my forehead. "You haven't had the chance to even really see the babies yet so you can't be expected to have everything memorized."

"Ah, but a good mother would," I said grinning. "Anyway, when do I get to see them? Have you talked to anybody yet?"

Gordo raised an eyebrow and gazed into space before replying this time. "Soon enough I guess, since they want to make sure that the kids are fine and settled in before they let us spend too much time gawking at them. Also, they're going to have to come and check you out before we get to go see them together. But we can get our names ready."

"Okay," I said, perking up and trying to sit up straighter. I had a searing pain across my abdomen then though. "Gah, bugger, fu… fudge." I changed my last word as one of the nurses walked in.

She smiled. "Incision?" She asked with a sympathetic smile. When I nodded, she said, "Okay, just let me see how this is healing. We're going to try to get you walk around for a few minutes to make sure that you heal faster before letting you get a wheelchair and go to the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit."

She did just that, examining my incision and giving me special instructions on how to care for myself after a c-section birth. She and Gordo had me walk around for a bit before they finally let me go to see the quads in the NICU. In reality it wasn't actually that long, but for me it seemed to take a very long time. After what seemed like hours on end, I was finally given a wheelchair. Once I had my chair, Gordo and I were allowed to go see our babies.

On our request, they had placed all four of them together. They were so tiny and angelic looking, with nothing but a pink or blue hat and an itty bitty diaper. They had the girls incubators pushed together so they could see each other. We had heard that it often helped multiples feel more safe and reassured if they could see their siblings when they were at the point that they could open their eyes. As precious as our children looked, my heart broke when I saw that all four of my babies had tubes and machines hooked up to them. I knew that care was still critical at this point, but it was hard to see my babies like that.

As we were looking over our new children, I looked up at Gordo and pointed to Baby A. As I looked at Gordo, I saw that he was pointing to the other baby boy, Baby D. I had just started to say "Patrick" when Gordo began saying "Jason" at nearly the exact same time. We both smiled then, we had managed to agree on which of our sons was going to get each name. We had already come up with the four names for sure, it was just a matter of deciding who got which one.

As we moved to the girls, there wasn't an immediate inclination one way or the other as to who was going to be named what. With the boys both their personalities and their looks seemed to point to the oldest one being Patrick and the younger one being Jason. With the girls, it was all about personality and the slight differences to determine who got which name. After a couple of minutes we decided that the bigger and older baby, Baby B, was Liliana and younger and smaller Baby C was Rosemary.

As I was being wheeled back to my room, I looked up at Gordo. "It's good to finally know who's who and to be able to call them by real names and not just A, B, C, and D. It's good to be able to know them by name. Patrick Wade, Liliana Kate, Rosemary Erin, and Jason Michael. Our four babies, our kids, not just tiny little blobs on a screen or alien-like creatures who are poking me in various internal organs continually."

"Yeah," he said. He was still grinning from ear to ear, as he had been for most of the day. "It's good to finally see them. Identical girls Lily and Rosie, both little baldies. Then there's their bigger brothers, both in weight and length Paddy and Jason."

We looked at each other and were at peace. Our family was complete now with eight people… a mother, a father, four daughters, and two sons.

Okay, the babies are finally born. This was long (word counts says 4 277 words!) and hard to right well, so please reply and tell me what you liked, didn't like, and so on. I may have another couple of chapters to finish this off so I'd like to know how to end it well. Thanks in advance guys.

-- The happy, but worn out, author Lily


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